Asian shares mixed after China-US talks end without trade deal
Shares in Asia were mixed on Wednesday after the U.S. and China ended their latest round of trade talks without a deal. U.S, futures edged higher while oil prices slipped.
Beijing's top trade official said China and the United States agreed during two days of talks in Stockholm, Sweden, to work on extending an Aug. 12 deadline for imposing higher tariffs on each other. The U.S. side said an extension was discussed, but not decided on.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the American team would head back to Washington and 'talk to the president about whether that's something that he wants to do.' A Friday deadline is looming for many of Trump's proposed tariffs on other countries. Several highly anticipated economic reports are also on the way, including the latest monthly update on the job market.
'Markets had been floating on a cloud of trade optimism — first Japan, then the EU — but the sugar high is wearing off. Now, with U.S.-China talks dragging on in Stockholm, there's a growing sense that the momentum is stalling,' Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index shed 0.1.2% to 25,213.15, while the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.2% to 3,616.30.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index fell less than 0.1% to 40,654.70. Gains for electronics companies were offset by losses for major exporters like Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.6% to 8,756.40 and in South Korea, the Kospi gained 0.7% to 3,254,47.
Taiwan's Taiex rose 1.1%. In India, the Sensex added 0.3%.On Tuesday, U.S. stock indexes edged back from their record levels as a busy week for Wall Street picked up momentum. The S&P 500 fell 0.3% to 6,370.86, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.5% to 44,632.99.
The Nasdaq composite was down 0.4% at 21,098.29.
SoFi Technologies jumped 7.4%, but Merck dropped 2.2% and UPS sank 9.2% following a torrent of profit reports from big U.S. companies.
They're among the hundreds of companies telling investors this week how much they made during the spring, including nearly a third of the stocks in the S&P 500 index.
UnitedHealth Group dropped 5.8% after reporting a profit for the spring that fell short of analysts' expectations. It also gave a forecast for profit over all of 2025 that investors found disappointing. The health care giant said it expected to earn at least $16 per share, when analysts were looking for something close to $20, according to FactSet.
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